United Airlines Workers Protest at Carrier’s Annual Meeting

United Airlines held its corporate annual meeting at its Chicago headquarters Wednesday, at which some of the carrier’s 9,000 unionized maintenance technicians demonstrated to call attention to the fact that they have yet to reach a fair collective bargaining agreement.

The airline and its maintenance workers, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, have been negotiating a joint contract since January 2013. Talks are slated to resume next week.

Prior to the annual meeting, the union issued a statement saying that the demonstration would serve “to warn investors and customers of turbulence ahead.”

Protesters held a rally and march outside the Wacker Drive entrance of United’s Willis Tower headquarters building, chanting slogans that made reference to the airline’s record profits in 2014 including “They got theirs, we want ours” and “$2 billion. Where’s our piece?”

In a written statement, the Chicago-based airline said it has “reached joint or separate agreements with all of our employee groups since the merger, and we remain committed to finalizing joint collective bargaining agreements with our remaining work groups,” adding that its “focus is to reach a competitive agreement that our employees will want to vote on and ratify.”

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Those who travel by air during the winter have undoubtedly seen this unusual dance before: trucks circling the aircraft spraying a strange orange-colored fluid, while passengers peer through the plane’s windows.
As your aircraft pushes back from the gate, you probably hear the captain announce, “Well folks, we’re just making a quick stop for deicing, and then we’ll be off.”
Deicing prevents a build-up of snow and ice on the plane’s wings …